Time And Time Again
by ghostwriter56
Summary: A short One Shot story. Danny gets an unannounced vitist from Clockwork


Title: Time and Time Again 

Author: Ghostwriter56

Rating: Y7

Disclaimer: Not mine……..oh well!

Synopsis: This is a one shot that was suppose to be at the end of my story, THREE FACES OF EVIL, but didn't make it, so I decided to make a short story out of it and throw it out there. It's a conversation with Clockwork that Danny has.

It wasn't until Danny left the Amity Park Library that he realized just how late is was in the day.

He had decided to make a real effort to get his grades up once and for all and passed on his usual trip to Nasty Burger with Sam and Tucker on this Friday. Sam wanted to take his temperature and Tucker demanded to know what happened to the real Danny Fenton!

Danny smiled as he glanced down at his watch and noticed the time.

"Geeze, I'd better get home before I'm late for dinner. Mom will hang me for sure." He muttered under his breath as he crossed the busy street and headed down the street. Looking off to his left, he noticed the Union Cemetery. He stopped for a moment and adjusted his backpack as he thought. Taking the shortcut through the cemetery would cut ten minutes off his walk, but he hated going in there for several reasons….

One, it was a cemetery and not a place kids hung out.

Two, Dash and his buddies like to do their track training through the place and it was about the time of day they would be there.

Three, even though he was part ghost, cemeteries scare the heck out of him…even in the daylight!

Taking a deep breath and exhaling, Danny entered the wide opened gateway and made his way down the main avenue, which was the most direct way to the other side.

He walked at a brisk pace, trying not to make eye contact with people as they strolled leisurely by. Union Cemetery was also a lovely community park for walking and many in Amity Park took advantage of the location to get in their daily exercise.

Danny quickly managed to make it to the center of the grounds where there was a huge stone fountain with dark green painted wooden benches around. So far, so good, he thought as he stopped a moment to re-adjust his backpack, which was a bit heavier than usual with the books he'd taken out of the library. He was about to start off again when suddenly the pounding of the pavement shook him to the core as Dash, Kwan and four other boys ran up to the fountain. Dash stopped dead in his tracks as he came up to Danny.

"Geeze Fen-toad, what's a scaredy cat like you doing in the big creepy cemetery?" Dash said in a teasing voice.

"Just leaving." Danny said with a curt nod as he tried to step around the boys. Dash put out his big muscular hand to stop him, but Danny slapped it away. "Get lost Dash, I gotta get home before dark."

"What's wrong? Afraid all the ghosts will come out and get you?" Dash said in a pouty voice that made the other boys laugh out loud.

Danny shot him a burning look and started to walk away, only to have Dash call out to his buddies,

"Grab him! Don't let him get away!"

On hearing this, Danny tried to get to a dead run, but could only manage a few steps before the boys where on him, grabbing him by the arms and holding him between them. Dash strolled up to him, the sweat dripping off of him as he put his hands on his hips and looked down condescendingly at Danny.

"I don't like it when dweebs like you don't do as I tell them. I think this deserves a special kind of punishment."

"Let me go!" Danny growled as he struggled against his captors, but to no avail.

"Hey, let's stick him up in the tree over there." One of the boys offered.

"Naw, too much effort." Dash said as he sat down on the edge of the large fountain pool.

"How about this. We throw him in a sack and tie him up to the Crowley monument after dark." Kwan suggested. All the boys, even Danny looked at him as if he'd grown a second head. Dash thought it over but waved it off.

"Uh, uh. We could get in trouble with the cops for that one, Kidnapping and all. Maybe we could save that one for Halloween though." Dash said with a bit of hope in his voice as he leaned back. His hands slipped slightly in the water and that triggered his plan.

"Let's douse him in the fountain!"

"Hey!" Danny yelled, only to have Kwan come up behind him and slap a large hand over the smaller boy's mouth. Dash strode up to Danny and got in his face.

"You're not a bad swimmer, Fenton. Although I've never known how long you can hold your breath underwater…. dunk him!" Dash ordered darkly. The group of large boys dragged Danny towards the water. One grabbed Danny by the back of the neck and pushed his head closer and closer to the glassy surface of the pool. Try as he might, Danny Fenton was no match for the bullies and there was no chance that Danny Phantom could appear without blowing his secret identity.

Danny's head inched closer and closer to the water, the tip of his raven hair just brushed against the water when everything stopped.

A blue spinning vortex appeared next to the boys and time froze as Clockwork, Ghost Master of Time appeared in his elderly form. He floated closer to the boys and sighed as he shook his head. Reaching into the depths of his purple cloak, he pulled out the cog shaped Time Medallion and slipped it over Danny's head.

Danny felt a sudden snap run through his being, a feeling he was familiar with from a time before when he first met Clockwork. Sensing the time halt, Danny changed quickly into Danny Phantom and slipped away from his captors with ease.

"Clockwork! Oh man, thanks for showing up when you did, I was about…"

"…To get soaked? Yes, well I am known for my promptness." The old ghost smiled as he changed into his youthful form. "How do you get yourself into these predicaments?"

Danny smiled as he floated away from the pool and sat down on a nearby bench.

"I'm a magnate for trouble, I suppose. Always have been, always will be." He sighed "Seems I can't even take a simple short cut home without getting ambushed by the bosses, ghost or human."

Clockwork chuckled as he leaned against his Time Staff.

"Yes, I would say that is a most astute self observation, but that's not why I'm here."

"Please, no more trouble. I need a bit of quite in my life. I gotta get my grades up again." Danny said with mounting trepidation over the reason for the ghost's visit.

"No Danny, nothing like that. This is purely a social call. Since the Observants charge me with your care, it's my duty to check up on you and report your progress to them." Clockwork explained in a very matter of fact tone as he hovered above the bench next to Danny.

"You mentioned them to me before. I don't understand what is so important about me?"

Danny's bluntness almost took the ghost by surprise as he changed into his adult form.

"You're very special Danny. You don't know it, but you are. A lot of what will happen in the future is dependant on decisions you make now."

"But I'm only fourteen! I'm just a kid, I don't understand any of this!" Danny let his frustration seep out as he turned away from Clockwork.

The old ghost pursed his lips with a touch of frustration. Emotions were not his strong suit, let alone the emotions of a fourteen-year-old half ghost, half human boy. Only he knew how high the stakes were in this drama of Danny Fenton. He pondered the problem before he spoke.

"You don't understand the mechanics of your parents Ghost Portal, do you?"

Danny rose from the bench and took a couple of steps.

"No, I suppose not." He answered in a quiet voice, bowing his head slightly.

"You could learn it, if you applied yourself." Clockwork ventured, leaning forward on his staff.

"I suppose." Danny's muffled voice replied.

"Well, it's the same with your powers. You don't understand them, but by practice and application, you master them. Danny, you are a very exceptional boy who will be a young man soon. Don't let your fear of the unknown stop you."

Danny turned slowly to face the Master of Time, his green eyes wide with a mix of wonder and trepidation.

"How did you…" he began, pointing a white gloved hand to the ghost who just smiled pleasantly.

"Danny, what part of "Master of Time" don't you grasp the concept of?"

Danny's complexion turned rosy as he rubbed the back of his neck like he did whenever he became embarrassed. Clockwork floated around the fountain, looking at the monuments.

"I never could understand the need to so formally mark the passing of one piece of time."

"You mean, when people die?" Danny asked soaring up to his vantage point as Clockwork changed into his ancient self again and nodded.

Danny pondered his statement for several moments and said quietly.

"Maybe it's because as humans our perception of time is so limited, we can't see beyond the moment at hand. You've always been a ghost so time doesn't matter as much to you as it does us."

Clockwork smiled his approval.

"Very good Danny! There are many different perceptions of time and you have just noted the most basic fundamental of them all. There is hope for you after all."

"But tell me one thing. Why haven't you kept a closer watch on Plasmius? He's human too." Danny inquired with a hunger in his green eyes for an answer.

Clockwork sensed that and moved down to where the water had been shooting out of the top of the ornate fountain.

"Good and Evil are like water, always on the move. If they stay still they soon become stagnant and infected. As water had a need to keep moving so do the forces of Good and Evil, to keep themselves vital," Clockwork noted the confusion in the young boy's face. "I cannot change the forces of Nature, Danny. It is against the very laws of Life. I knew no matter what happened that Vlad Masters would become the evil Vlad Plasmius. It does no one any good to mess about with alternate time lines."

"But you did! When you saved my family from the explosion at the Nasty Burger. I have an alternate self now." Danny said with a mix of fear and guilt.

"Which was supposed to happen that way. Vlad's time line is much different than yours. He made choices that have taken him down deeper an deeper into Evil, so far in fact that his whole perception of what he is has become a victim, not a villain. He's a very diluted man, to be feared, but also pitied for the waste of his life."

Clockwork's words sent a physical chill through Danny as he wrapped his arms around himself.

"So the Evil that could have been me is now with you in the Ghost Zone." Danny concluded.

"Precisely where he belongs. Though I must admit he makes a great object lesson on what happens when one does not study for exams." The elder ghost said with a wry smile, tapping Danny playfully on the head with his Time Staff. He looked down at the many watches on his wrist.

"I must be going. I've held up time too long here. Remember what I said Danny. Stay your course and keep your mind open and if you ever need me, you know where to find me."

"But what if you're not there, I mean...oh." Danny said before he realized that Clockwork would know when Danny was coming. Then an idea came to the boy.

"Clockwork, before you go, let me just do a little bit of rearranging here." Danny said with a sly smile.

Before Clockwork left, Danny surveyed his work.

"Now this is what I call cool!" The boy said with a big grin as he sat down on a large tree limb.

"Danny this is not what I consider a good use of your powers." Clockwork scolded as he changed back into a young child.

"Dude, didn't you ever play a prank on anyone?" Danny challenged, as he got ready to remove the Time Medallion.

"Well, there was this one time I ran Pariah Dark's underwear up the flagpole…but that was ages ago and no concern of yours!" The Ghost of Time flustered as he took the medallion from Danny and spun his staff to disappear.

Time suddenly came back into play and Danny eagerly watched the chaos below.

He had re-arranged the bullies so that they were all perilously perched on the edge of the fountain.

When time resumed, there was one great splash as the boys fell into the water!

Danny turned invisible and flew down to the fountain, laughing hysterically.

"What happened?! Where's Fenton?" Dash roared as he slowly climbed out of the pool.

"I don't know, but I'm getting the heck outta here!" Kwan said, listening to the laughter coming from nowhere. He managed to roll out onto the gravel path and take off like a shot with the rest of the boys close behind.

Danny looked around and saw no one so he transformed back to Danny Fenton. With a huge smile on his face he made his way down the path and home.

End


End file.
